Guide catheters are used routinely in medical procedures, including coronary and other cardiac and vascular procedures. Guide catheters provide a channel through which suitable interventional devices, for example, angioplasty devices, stent delivery catheters, electrophysiology catheters, and so forth, can be introduced, and through which radiographic contrast dye can be injected.
In use, the guide catheter is typically advanced through a valved introducer fitting, up the arteries or veins of the leg or arm, to a desired treatment location (e.g., the heart), where its tip, which is generally soft, is placed against or otherwise near the region to be treated (e.g., the coronary ostium). The catheter should provide good channel integrity and torque response as the catheter is advanced, and should provide good support as the interventional device is advanced. Guide catheters are sold in a variety of preformed sizes and shapes, which are based on years of custom and experienced ranges of patient anatomy. If one guide catheter does not give access or provide enough support, a different guide catheter is typically substituted from a large inventory of guide catheters having various shapes and sizes.